The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of apparatus for the thermal treatment of fluent or flowable materials.
Generally speaking, the apparatus of the present development is of the type comprising at least one essentially vertical insert or insert member arranged within a treatment compartment or chamber. The insert member is provided at its outer surface with a treatment wall and contains a translatorily up-and-down movable treatment element. The treatment element is provided with at least one wiper or spreader element which coacts with the treatment wall for forming a thin film.
With a heretofore known apparatus of this type the material which is to be thermally processed and infed from the outside into the treatment compartment or chamber, is applied to the upper end of the insert member at the treatment wall and flows along such treatment wall in the downward direction. Relevant in this regard is Swiss Pat. No. 482,161 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,916, granted July 6, 1971. The material is exposed to the action of up-and-down moving wiper or spreader elements, which, in turn, serve for conveying and, on the other hand, for the spreading of the material. Hence, the material is intensively admixed and circulated, resulting in an improved thermal transfer or treatment.